Willow - Take care when switching from the long acting to the regular Wellbutrin™ (bupropion). I have read of a few cases (approx. 5 or 6) where the equivalent daily dose (eg. 150mg SR twice daily to 100mg Reg. generic three times daily). In these cases the generic bupropion didn't seem to have the same level of therapeutic effect as the SR version.

Normally, I am all for the use of generics, and have seen the increase in quality control by the manufacturers (... guess that happens when the CDN gov. sends in inspectors to do white glove tests... .

Us up here in the Great White North (just due north of the Excited States) have had generics for about 20 years. Still, there are a small minority of generic drugs that do not seem to work as well as the brand name, nor as good as other generics.

I used to think that the difference was just a psychological thing (ie. a brain-washing from the brand name companies spending billions on advertising saying that their brand is better), but different people, with differing expectations, were all saying that a certain brand of generic diazepam did not works as well as the brand name Valium™ (and in a fews instances I had suspicions that the generics didn't work as well because the brand name Valium could be sold for more money on the street). I am reasonably sure that this was not the case in a majority of those who did complain of a lack of efficacy. BTW,that company went under a few years ago.

In Canada,there is ongoing testing of both generic and brand name drugs, where by law they drug has to be within 5% of a set standard in a number of areas for that drug (eg. dissolution rate, absorption rate, excretion half-life, etc.). The generics (in Canada) have cleaned up their act over the 20 or so years they have been on the market.

As for the differences between Wellbutrin SR™ and the regular generic, it is very difficult to compare them, as they do act differently in the body (but still have a similar effect). The SR is absorbed and thus excreted over a longer period of time. Also the variability of a patient's ability to metabolize either a smaller dose over a longer period of time (SR) or larger doses over a shorter period of time (generic).

Basically, it comes down to a couple of choices: either try the generic (with a small risk of the drug not working as well - most cases were successfully treated by bumping the dose a bit) or shell out a little more hard-earned money for the SR because you know that it works. I guess it's sorta like the adage says, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

This is something that you should talk over with your doctor. He/She should monitor the switch closely.

I'd like to insert a caveat here. I have had no clinical experience with the use of either Wellbutrin regular acting nor the generic buropion, as neither of these drugs are available in Canada. I am just relating some anecdotes that I have read. These anecdotes were not studies and so patient/prescriber bias must be entered into the equation.

Good luck, whatever you decide. - Cam


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